I'll confess up front that I am already a rusted-on fan of Alec Cizak's work - if you follow my blogs, you'll probably have read my reviews of others of his books.This novella is one of the Drifter Detective series with a common protagonist, but produced by different authors. This strikes me as an interesting approach, one which I haven't encountered before in my reading (and I haven't read any of the other authors).However, this offering from Mr Cizak is outstanding. I really enjoyed it from start to finish. Whilst at first feeling quite different on a number of levels from his other work I've read, at the same time it's a classic hard-boiled tale, with a tough and cynical PI, Jack Laramie. The setting is not long after WW2, which Laramie and his client, Shel Eastman, served in together, the effects of that awful experience lingering in their minds and infecting their lives and choices. As always, no spoilers from me, but the tale is gripping and dark. The tough PI works the case, but with dark, tragic events - not unusual for Mr Cizak's work. Plus, as I always love with his work, the social commentary is rich, incisive and damning.If you like hard-boiled and noir, then I highly recommend this book. And its slightly alternative slant on the hard-boiled genre is a delicious surprise.Cheers,ABP